LEWISTON — Maisie Silverman estimates she has 10 family members that attended Bowdoin College.

Moving to Brunswick when she was 6 from Boston, Massachusetts, the natural expectation was for Silverman to attend the Brunswick school when the time came. Silverman has played tennis all her life and her Brunswick High School coach was the wife of the Bowdoin tennis coach. All signs pointed to Silverman becoming a Polar Bear.

Not wanting to live so close to home (Silverman says her family lives “literally on the campus”), Silverman searched through the other NESCAC schools, and that’s when Bates tennis coach Paul Gastonguay got in contact with the three-time state champion. The rest was history.